The present invention relates to containers and, more particularly, containers for products which outgas and which employ venting elements.
As is well known, certain products such as coffee tend to outgas and this can cause distortion of the container if the pressure in the container becomes too great, especially in thin walled containers. As a result, some containers use a wall thickness which is increased from that required for a product which does not outgas. This outgassing problem is accentuated with some packaging techniques which utilize the step of purging the ground and roasted coffee to displace oxygen as described in Canadian Patent No. 1,309,992.
Various structures have been proposed to vent the gas evolved from the product such as those shown in Thomas et al Patent Publication US 2004/0096552; Costa et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,306; and Jeor U.S. Patent Publication US 2004/0173626.
Although it is desirable to vent the escaping gas, some gas retention is desirable to provide a positive pressure to preclude entry of the ambient air into the container since moisture and gases may be deleterious to the product.
Some containers employ a foil seal to cover the mouth of the container and provide a barrier to ingress of ambient air. This foil seal is removed by the user in order to gain access to the product therein after which there is no longer an effective barrier to protect the contents from moist air, etc. Since there is a need to provide venting for the gas, a valve is provided in the foil seal such as that shown in the Thomas et al Patent Publication.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel container assembly for products which offgas during storage and which provide sealing action.
It is also an object to provide such a novel container assembly in which there is a foil seal that shields the product from the atmosphere until the user removes it and a valved vent is provided therein.
Another object is to provide such a container which can be fabricated and assembled easily.